Business

Details
UK - LD Martyn Rourke used 40 Robe fixtures -20 ColorSpot 1200 ATs and 20 ColorWashes - for lighting the Vaynol (Faenol) Festival in North Wales, over the Bank Holiday weekend. The whole event was recorded for broadcast on BBC Wales and S4C, directed by Phil Chilvers. HSL supplied full lighting production and crew.

Set against a dramatic, mountainous Snowdonia backdrop, the four day music extravaganza featured headlining appearances by some serious Celtic talent including Westlife, Shirley Bassey, bass baritone Bryn Terfel, The Proclaimers and Welsh rockers Anweledig.

Rourke has lit the event since its inception seven years ago, but this was the first year he has brought in HSL as the lighting contractor. It's also the first year he used Robe.

The most important element of the lighting brief was to design and deliver a rig capable of the specific demands of lighting for TV w

Details
USA - Dolby Laboratories, announced today that Britannia Row Productions, a leading public address rental company in the United Kingdom, has purchased 13 Dolby Lake Processors for loudspeaker management on Robbie Williams' Close Encounters worldwide stadium tour.

The Dolby Lake Processors were chosen in particular to support Britannia Row's current huge L-Acoustics V-Dosc and dV-Dosc loudspeaker system inventory, much of which is now being used on the Robbie Williams tour. Britannia Row tour sales manager Roly Oliver commented: "At Britannia Row, we service very high-profile clients with the latest technologies from only the best equipment manufacturers. We did extensive research and evaluation of processors in the market and found that the Dolby Lake Processor was themost future-proof processing technology available. Support from Dolby's live sound group and its UK

Details
Italy - Rome-based multimedia systems integrators, Edisco - which has devised bespoke solutions for many industrial projects - has carried out a major upgrade of the emergency system on Rome's "Line A" underground system, which travels 20km from east to west across the city (and vice versa).

In the era of global terrorism, clear messaging procedures and fast evacuation of underground facilities are paramount. Thus having won a tender, instigated two years ago and issued by the Comune di Roma (system operators), Edisco turned to a solution from BSS Audio, a Harman International Company (NYSE-HAR).

Realising that the new system had to comply with the EN 60849 emergency/voice alarm standard, Edisco's project manager Gino Fioravanti has deployed 30 x Soundweb London BLU-80 devices - one for each of the 27 networked stations on the line; the remaining three are situated 5

Details
Belgium - Plopsaland is the first of three 'Plopsa' amusement and attraction theme parks in Belgium equipped exclusively with Martin Audio speakers (involving more than 300 pieces of C115 and EM series). For the 2006 summer season a new attraction named 'Supersplash' was commissioned and installed. The ride involves 16 people being picked up in a boat, before travelling 16m by lift in 28 seconds; the boat then leaves the lift through a hatch and drops at high speed into the water, passing more bumps and bridges before arriving back at its start point.

The attraction only lacked some spectacular audio FX during those 28 seconds, and with that in mind Wouter Verhulst, technical director for the Plopsaland theme parks, contacted Ampco Belgium's sales manager Steven Kemland. Together with sound designer/producer and engineer Geert De Wit, they designed a surround set-up using 16 Mar

Details
USA - Bandit Lites is continuing to grow and add staff. In the UK, Bandit will be adding several new office staff members to accommodate the increased workload and provide better service to an expanding client base. Roger Grybowicz was a recent addition to Bandit's UK team.

Mark Powell, currently general manager of the UK operation, will be moving to theUnited States in October. A new management structure will be announced in the UK veryshortly. The accomplishments made under Powell's direction in the UK were remarkable, says the company and they "look forward to the next chapter in our European market growth".

Several key positions are also currently being created in Bandit's Nashville facilities.

(Chris Henry)

Details
UK - Concept AV have recently completed a number of sound system installations in the leisure sector using proprietary Wharfedale enclosures. The company's Jason Lee explains that many of his system designs have been for primary contractor, AVL, and are based around the Huntingdon manufacturer's SI, Twin and Programme ranges.

Both the Junction bar/restaurant in Notts and Royston Leisure Centre in Herts feature multiples of the Programme series, powered by QSC amplification, optimised in the BSS Soundweb DSP, and providing the operators with local control via the BSS remote wall panels.

Situated at Kirkby-in-Ashfield, the once traditional Ritz Associates-owned Junction has now moved upmarket, and playback is handled via four Wharfedale Programme 80's and eight Programme 32's, split between the restaurant/bar and separate pool and snooker room.

Originally owned by the Mansfiel

Details
USA - Along with electrifying NASCAR racing, spectators at Lowe's Motor Speedway were recently treated to a sneak preview of the 2007 lineup of cars and trucks from Toyota Motor Corporation. Six sleek Toyota models were featured at the Charlotte, NC racetrack - from the popular Camry to the all-new off-road FJ Cruiser - highlighted in display structures created with aluminium trussing from Global Truss America.

Each Toyota vehicle was showcased to its fullest advantage on an elevated platform, which was framed by a U-shaped configuration of Global trussing, consisting of two truss posts on the side and a third strip going across the top. The top piece of truss sported an eye-catching sign bearing the Toyota and Lowe's Motor Speedway logos, along with the name of the vehicle model.

The lead time for the project was under a week and a half, according to Justin Jenkins of Creativ

Details
UK - As the Judges are on the PLASA Show floor, adjudicating the short-listed products in the PLASA 2006 Awards for Innovation, one of the 64 nominated products they'll be viewing in the Innovation Gallery is Turbosound's Aspect modular point source loudspeaker system.

Over the last two years, the Turbosound system has made a big impact around the world and the number of enclosures now in regular use approaches 2,000.

From Australia to Italy and America to Korea, Aspect has found favour with rental and installation companies alike who have all recognised the benefits of its compact size, audio quality, power and directionality, says the company.

In Australia, Perth-based Megavision declared that Aspect was the best sounding system they had ever heard and invested in TA-880Hs with TSW-218 subwoofers, whilst Stav Hatzipantelis, owner of Pro Light & Sound, hails his new system

Details
UK - After much anticipation, Earls Court One finally opened its doors to the eager crowds queueing for the first day of PLASA '06. With pre-registration visitor levels at a record high, PLASA is bracing itself for record attendance.

New features opening today at the show include the new Integrated Systems Area; a greatly expanded PLASA Seminar Programme with a dedicated Technologies for Worship programme; and the first PLASA appearance of NEET (the National Exhibition of Entertainment Technology).

Traditionally 'DJ Day', day one of the show attracts a large DJ following, to participate in the heats and final of the Gemini 'Extreme V' DJ Competition.

Among today's other special features and events will be the ever-popular Talkzones, where music industry experts talk about different aspects of DJ'ing and dance music, including technical skills, online music and the business o

Details
UK - EtherSound has announced the signing of two significant new licensees - pro audio manufacturers Peavey Electronics Corporation and Yamaha.

Peavey has licensed EtherSound networking technology for use in Peavey, MediaMatrix, Architectural Acoustics and Crest Audio professional audio and communications products. Peavey will take advantage of EtherSound's rapid implementation support to introduce EtherSound-enabled products at PLASA 2006: Crest Audio amplifiers and mixing consoles are likely to be among the first Peavey products with EtherSound capability, say the company.

"We have monitored the development and growing acceptance of EtherSound technology, and we're impressed by its rapid implementation and evolution," said Hartley Peavey, Founder and CEO of Peavey Electronics and CEO of Crest Audio.

"As the networked audio market grows, EtherSound will enabl

Details
UK - Tomorrow's Awards for Innovation ceremony will also include a series of charity presentations, as the money raised from entry fees to the Awards is donated to a number of deserving causes. The ceremony will also include a personal appearance by a true entertainment industry legend - Sir George Martin.

In supporting Sir George's Music Foundation, PLASA will purchase a limited edition reproduction lithograph of the original score for Yesterday - the most performed song in history - signed by both Sir George Martin and Sir Paul McCartney. The lithograph will be auctioned during the course of the show to raise further money for the Music Foundation.

The Awards ceremony takes place tomorrow evening at 6.00pm, at the Central Bar area in the centre of Earls Court 1.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - As the PLASA Show's visitors began to fill Earls Court 1, the Innovation Gallery was naturally proving a big draw. Situated at the front of the main floor of Earls Court, the Innovation Gallery, sponsored by Lighting&Sound International magazine, forms a striking focal point for everyone coming to PLASA, as it is here that the 60 nominated products vying for this year's PLASA Awards for Innovation are prominently displayed.

The judging panel, consisting of an array of industry experts, is hard at work viewing, questioning and debating throughout today, and will draw a line under their deliberations by around lunchtime tomorrow. As well as the eight Innovation Awards, the judges will also have at their disposal an Award for Environmental Impact to reward any product that makes a significant contribution to environmental issues. The winners will be revealed to the industry to

Details
UK - Hawthorn is pleased to announce that it's investment in Clay Paky's Alpha 575 and 1200 series spot and wash lights has now exceeded £0.5 million.

"We started our investment in this range in late 2004," said Martin Hawthorn, "as this was a second generation moving head feature spot, Clay Paky had learnt a lot from its original series and the quality and reliability of the new range justify the significant investment we have made, including our latest order last week of over £40,000 for the Alpha Profile 1200 range, which combines the technology of Alpha projectors with the exclusive Clay Paky patented framing system."

"We now have a hire stock of over 100 Alpha washes and spots," said Matt Edgington of the Hawthorn Moving Light Department, "the initial intensive three-day training course that Gavin, Tim Ellis, our electronics

Details
UK - British loudspeaker manufacturer Martin Audio celebrated 35 years in business with a champagne reception at the PLASA Show yesterday afternoon, and also chose the occasion to present some of its leading international distributorships with special awards for their achievements during the year.

Pictured here are representatives of the five companies who received Awards on the Martin stand: from left to right are Marc Kocks of TM Audio (The Netherlands), who received the Award for Achievement in Installed Sound; Juan Sebastian De Castells of Adagio (Spain), with the Award for Achievement in Tour Sound; Nick Lidster of Autograph Sound Recording (UK) with the Award for Achievement in Theatre Sound; Patrick Lau of Dah Chong Hong (Hong Kong) with Martin Audio's Distributor of the Year Award; and Wei Ming of Swee Lee (Singapore), with the Award for Achievement in Club Sound.

(Lee

Details
UK - Avolites launched its new Pearl Expert desk at the PLASA show yesterday. This is a new high performance version of one of the industry's most popular ever consoles, boasting more submasters, more flash buttons, and based on the Pearl 2004 operating system.

Pearl Expert is powered by the new Intel Core Duo Processor giving an exceptionally high-speed button response, which is particularly useful for 'take over' and busking. An additional five sub master playbacks makes a total of 20, and new Add and Swop buttons for the top row of faders allow easy placement of fixtures and dimmers, on all 60 preset faders.

The new 'Colour Picker' a feature from the Diamond 4 console, gives instant control of CMY and colour mix devices. This is the first of many D4 features for future software releases in Pearl Expert. A new 'Split Roller' separates the 20 sub masters into two banks of 10

Details
UK - Sound Rental Company SSE Audio Group has announced the acquisition of Tarsin Entertainment Ltd. London based Tarsin specialises in the contract hire of live sound installations at many major venues in the capital and around the UK. These contracts will now transfer to SSE London, a newly created division of SSE Audio Group.

John Penn, SSE Audio Group's MD commented: "After working with Tarsin's Peter Dyer for many years, we realised the natural synergy between our two operations could lead to mutual benefit for both our businesses and customers."

Dyer becomes SSE London's contracts manager, looking after existing customer relations and developing new business, while SSE's Emma Barwell becomes operations director, responsible for the day to day running of the London warehouse and offices, which are based at Hayes in West London.

Tarsin Entertainment's clients w

Details
UK - At the PLASA Show yesterday, Australian manufacturer LSC Lighting announced the appointment of White Light as its new exclusive distributor for the UK. The announcement was made on the White Light stand, where LSC's Gary Pritchard officially presented White Light's Peter Threadgold with a framed certificate.

Earlier in the morning The White Light stand had also seen the launch of the latest offering from Robert Juliat, - Lancelot - the latest in a line of innovative products from French manufacturer Robert Juliat.

The brightest, most spectacular fixture ever released by Robert Juliat, Lancelot is both a long-throw effects projector and a followspot suitable for the largest of venues, particularly stadiums. Based around a 360,000 lumen 4kW HTI lamp, Lancelot uses a carefully-designed optical train that gives an extremely flat-field beam distribution. Lancelot's modular des

Details
UK - There is a stand missing on the upper level this year - Garwood. Chrys Lindop, instigator of the in-ear monitoring revolution has packed up his house in London and with his wife, Maggie Riley (Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield if you're wondering where you've heard that name before) and moved to Glasgow. Lindop has turned his audio skills to new, more altruistic pastures, working for the Sounds of Progress charity.

Readers may care to remember that name. Essentially, the charity is concerned with making musical expression more accessible to people with handicaps and disabilities. "I've done something that links music and the playing of instruments to colours," Lindop explained briefly. It must be effective, the Scottish education board has asked the charity to expand and adapt the program to support school children with learning needs. Audio in education, is this

Details
UK - The new Hippotizer V3 from Green Hippo aims to make convergence a reality rather than a buzzword, the company says. A combination of the video and lighting backgrounds of the Green Hippo design team has resulted in the system's multi-discipline operation and suitability for a variety of new AV tasks. Timeline functionality, HippoNet advanced networking capability, new media management, and efficiency-focused features are all accessible via a definable interface. Hippotizer can work autonomously, control other devices or be controlled externally, say Green Hippo.

Hippotizer V3 keeps all its award-winning features of Hippotizer: True HD capability, frame-blended playback and proven reliability but following a full rework, now heralds a quantum leap in Media Server technology.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - Ortofon, one of the sponsors of the DMC DJ World Championship Finals, was one the busiest stands of Sunday at the PLASA Show, where a host of world class DJs demoed their mixing and scratching skills using Ortofon's famous DJ cartridges designed to work with time-coded vinyl. Guest slots were taken up Tamara Sky, ID, Ms Vicious and many others who were also among artists from 91 countries perfuming at the 2-day Championship Finals, staged at legendary nearby venue, Hammersmith Palais.

Last night's Battle for World Supremacy was won by DJ Coma from Japan with Troubl' from France the runner up, and the Wold Team Battle was won by C2C from France with Disablists from the UK second.

Being contested tonight - the second and final evening of the event - is the ultimate DJ accolade, the Championship World Final (now in its 23rd year), plus the DMC World DJ Summit 2 . . . where f

Details
UK - PLASA '06 has opened, with much of the industry heading to Earls Court 1 to be part of this international event. The mood on the show floor has been positive, business deals have already been signed, and a strong blueprint has been established for the rest of the show.

The exhibition has been busy since the doors opened yesterday at 10am with architects, DJs, lighting designers, sound engineers, production managers and installers arriving in London to take part in the event.

The show's international credentials have been reinforced by the presence of companies from over 20 countries, including Canada, France, Israel, Lithuania, Germany, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey and the USA. All the major names are at Earls Court, amongst them 50 first-time exhibitors, including the innovative Canadian company Cirque du Soleil.

No other show gives visitors such a positive f

Details
UK - Hundreds of products have been launched at this year's PLASA Show, currently running at Earls Court in London. At last night's PLASA Awards for Innovation ceremony, attended by special guest Sir George Martin, eight awards were presented in recognition of the impressive design and development work going on across the industry.

The eight awards went to: Avolites (Stand J30) for its mDMX system; Dolby Laboratories / Lake Technology (BB12) for the Dolby Lake Processor; Global Design Solutions' Blues System (R53); Vieta / KV2 Audio Europe Ltd (GG6) for the So Line; Pharos Architectural Controls (F31) for its Audio Visual Controller; TiMax / Outboard (DD18) for the Track The Actors system; Volex Power Products (FF14) for its V-Lock; and Wybron's InfoTrace system (J38).

In addition to the main award winners, commendations were also given to Adam Hall for its adjustable top-hat

Details
UK - With the advent of high quality plasma screens which can be found in most places where information is required to be seen, comes the need to match such innovations with realistic sound. To meet this demand, ADSworldwide of Stockport has introduced the Genie music distribution system.

The use of high precision miniature wall loudspeakers made from weighty cast aluminium provide an exceptional quality sound which belies their size. A ceiling loudspeaker version is also available, therefore providing a choice between wall and ceiling mounting. The addition of a subwoofer completes a comprehensive sound system unrivalled by any other in terms of both quality and price.

The core of the system is a six-channel amplifier comprising six individual 35W modules, four each feeding an individual loudspeaker and also providing separate volume control. The last two amplifiers are bridg

Details
UK - The Michael Northern Bursary 2006, set up to reward students who show exemplary talent in lighting design, has been awarded to Chloe Kenward from the University of Hull, for her imaginative design for Egbert in the Underworld. The Bursary of £500 is awarded for a project completed within the past academic year, and the judges felt that Kenward's work clearly demonstrated a strong creative flair.

The ETC runner up prize of £250 went to Richard Howell, from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, for his work on Twelfth Night, while Joshua Tomalin from LAMDA was awarded the ALD runner up prize of £250 for his work on Mathilde, Serious Money and The Misanthrope.

This year, for the first time, two Honourable Mention Awards, sponsored by PRG Europe were awarded to first year students. The judges - Paule Constable, Mark Jonathan, R

  1. ADB's new products at PLASA
  2. grandMA assists the play with lust
  3. Clockaudio appoints FotoPhono
  4. LSC Releases new Touring Dimmer
  5. PLASA Rigging Certificate at PLASA '06
  6. A-T's wireless systems to ship soon
Page 826 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .